Doctor Who star Matt Smith will make his US acting debut next year as the star of Ryan Gosling’s first feature film as director, How to Catch a Monster.

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Smith, who has long expressed a desire to forge a career in Hollywood, will join Christina Hendricks and Eva Mendes in the dark fantasy drama, reports Variety.

The film itself takes place against the “surreal dreamscape” of a vanishing city, and centres on a single mother (Hendricks) who is swept into a macabre fantasy underworld, while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town. Both mother and son must solve various puzzles if they want to keep their family alive.

It’s as yet unclear where Smtih will fit in to the plot, but he will be playing the film’s male lead.

In February 2012, Smith admitted that his ultimate ambition is to direct movies, and it seems safe to assume that starring in Gosling’s movie will take him one step closer to making that dream a reality.